Hi Friends!
How was your weekend? I hope all is going well there! If you follow us on FunCycled’s Facebook or Instagram, you saw that we went on a family trip to Ireland over spring break, and I promised I’d share more details on our blog so you can consider a trip like this, too!
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I HIGHLY recommend Ireland, and especially at this season of life that we’re in. Because Ireland is so much about the ocean and the castles, I think a trip like this would be tricky if you had small kids or if you and had trouble climbing stairs. We climbed SO many steps! We loved every minute of it, and so did our teens (14 and 15).
We chose to go oversees because we looked into flying to Phoenix for the week and the airfare alone was $3,900 for our family of 4. We went on Great Value Vacation’s site for trips under $1,000 and shared with our kids the lists of places that came up (and NO they didn’t sponsor this post lol). Their top 2 picks were Rome or Ireland. I thought Ireland would be better because Rome may bore them after 4-5 days of walking and looking at old buildings. It was such a great spot because it came with a rental car, and jet lag was no joke for us. I think if we didn’t have driving each day where the kids could sleep in the car, it wouldn’t have been enjoyable. They needed the rest!
We started our trip in Dublin! When we were in the airport getting ready, we met a college student from Dublin who was so sweet and looked through my itinerary to give me her tips for the best places to go!
We spent the first day in Dublin, and went to Trinity College first. It was such a beautiful campus and you can also view the Book of Kells while you were there. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time but really wanted to. So many people recommended it to us!
If you walk from Trinity to Grafton Street, you’ll see some amazing stores, an icecream shop called Murphy’s and the best hot chocolate I had in Ireland at Butler’s Chocolate Cafe. I was sad that Ireland’s hot chocolate didn’t compare to Paris or London’s. This was the only spot that I liked the hot chocolate!
We also had a really good breakfast at the Lovely Food Co.
We rented a car for this trip, but driving in Ireland is nothing like here in the States. The roads are more narrow than our driveway, you drive on the opposite side of the road, there’s no shoulder, and the speeds allowed feels like there’s no way you could actually go that fast. We headed to the Hoban Hotel in Kilkenny. I liked this hotel the best of all the ones we stayed in. Really cute design, comfy beds, and pretty good food.
Day 2
We headed out to Kilkenny Castle for a tour! This castle was really beautiful and very ornate inside. What set this castle apart from the other castles on our trip were the gardens. They were really beautiful, and it was built next to a river.
Be sure to go across the street from the castle for the restaurant, shops, and gardens. They were really cute!
My therapist told me her favorite spot in Ireland was the Rock of Cashel, and it definitely did not disappoint! It was built in 1101, and that’s hard to even wrap my head around. I felt like I shouldn’t even be stepping on the stones.
We headed to Celtic Ross Hotel, and it was just ok. It wasn’t that comfortable, and it felt really out of the way from the places we were going. Our very favorite meal was a restaurant right near this hotel though! It’s called Jack’s at Pilgrims Rest ; they forage everything from 10km or less from the restaurant, and you could tell. It was all so fresh, creative, and unique. I also loved the design of the interior.
Up next we visited the Blarney Castle which was beautiful in a different way. It was more like ruins, but it had beautiful grounds and an old house and carriage area you could tour. We didn’t give ourself enough time for this. I would recommend 2-3 hours! Oh, and YES the kids kissed the Blarney Stone.
When we asked the locals about what we should do, they recommend that we drive on the Wild Atlantic Way. There aren’t many places to pull over and get good photos in Ireland, but here are a few spots we were able to so you can see how beautiful Ireland was!
We also went to a town called Dingle (insert every inappropriate joke here). It was cute, but I’m not sure it was worth the drive. If you’re in the area, you should definitely stop by! We found an adorable cheese shop called The Little Cheese Shop and bought cheese and fresh bread for lunch. Cheese in Europe is so much better than in the States.
We also stopped by a spur of the moment castle on our drive back to the hotel at Ross Castle, and it was such a special surprise. It was completely rebuilt to an original state, and it was beautiful!
After that tour, we had dinner at Murphy’s Bar in Killarney. This was our favorite dinner during the trip! Definitely stop by if you’re in the area. We actually wished we had skipped on Dingle and spent more time in this town. We didn’t get to spend any time walking around to the different shops.
Then we moved to the Inn at Dromoland and stayed there. It was really pretty inside! Up next was our favorite part of the trip; we went to Bunratty Castle which is a huge village and castle with so much to do! We wished we had gone earlier in the day. You could easily spend 5 hours at this stop. They have a medieval dinner option in the castle, and we weren’t originally going to, but we changed our mind last minute and went. It was SO MUCH FUN! We ate with our hands, they had live music, and it was such a unique experience. Definitely worth the money.
The next day we drove of to the Cliff’s of Moher which is one of the most iconic spots to see in Ireland. The only day we had to go was during a huge storm with strong wind warnings. It was the most powerful wind I’ve ever felt! Despite that, it was absolutely beautiful, and I highly recommend it. We couldn’t even get a good photo because the wind was so painful. This might be my favorite family photo of the trip though. 😂
The waitress at Jack’s at Pilgrims Rest told us that if we were up at the Cliffs of Moher, we needed to make the trip to Burren Perfumery so we did! This was my second favorite spot on the trip. They have flower gardens you can stroll through, a place where you can make your own perfume, and a shop where you can buy perfume from them. I bought their Winter Woods scent and LOVE it!
We drove up to Aillwee Caves after the perfumery! It was a quick cave tour, nothing that unique since we have cave tours that are bigger in upstate NY, but the drive there was absolute stunning!
The next day (Sunday), we drove to Elevate Community Church in the morning on our way back to the final day in Dublin. Everyone was so kind, the music was great, and we really enjoyed the preaching, too.
Once we got back to Dublin, we went to EPIC the Irish Immigration Museum. The kids didn’t love it to be honest, but it was good to learn about the history in Ireland.
Then we walked to the oldest pub in Ireland, The Brazen Head for an early dinner. My airport friend told me only to go during off times or we’d never get in so we went to dinner at 3pm, and it was still full. Thankfully, we were seated right away, there was security outside, and the place was hopping with Irish music. People were smoking inside which I didn’t expect, but it was such a cool experience. So glad we did it!
Then we walked from there to the Guinness Store house! I was unsure if I wanted to bring teens to a beer factory, but most people that we asked who were from the area said it was their favorite thing to do in Dublin so we tried it. Once again, so glad we did! It was such a beautiful factory, they had a Celtic concert we were able to go to with dancers and a band. If you go to the top of the building you can see the whole city of Dublin and there was even a rainbow over the whole city! What a perfect way to end out trip! Then we took a carriage ride back to our car.
Many people ask if we’d go back. Maybe one day, but I felt like we saw so much and really have a good feel for the country. We’ll probably try somewhere new next time! I highly recommend going though! It was as peaceful, beautiful country with friendly people everywhere!
f you end up visiting Ireland and find other spots you like, drop the in the comments for other readers to see and enjoy!
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Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)
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